Lupin the Third Part III
, colloquially refered to as the Pink Jacket series, is the third TV anime based on Monkey Punch's Lupin III manga series. Produced by TMS, it marked the series' return to the Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (the network which aired the Lupin the Third Part I) and began airing on March 3, 1984. The show ran for a total of 50 episodes and ended on December 25, 1985. This series along with The Legend of The Gold of Babylon and much later Lupin VS The Smart Safe marks the times where Lupin wears a pink colored jacket. It is also the only series not to have a typed title card. In a stark contrast to its predecessor's more cartoonish designs, the initial character designs of the Pink Jacket Series were much more grounded and gritty, bearing a greater resemblance to Monkey Punch's original sketches. For example, Lupin and Goemon were given their traditional cleft chins, Jigen's face was more elongated, and Fujiko was made to look much more delicate and less voluptuous. Then the animation started becoming more loose yet kept the chin for Lupin. Towards the later half of the series, the production team decided to drop the gritty appearance of the designs and headed towards a more cartoonish nature more closer to Western animation. Lupin was redesigned and its design was the same as the Legend of the Gold of Babylon with a rounded chin. Due to diverse animation teams as well as a decision to have three character designs, the designs and overall look of the show tended to greatly differ from episode to episode and even within the same episode, making the the production look extremely inconsistent. Popularity-wise, the Pink Jacket series wasn't initially all too well received in comparison with it's predecessors. Many people failed to gravitate to the new oblong designs, the often mediocre plot-lines, and the inappropriate blend of the Green Jacket's seriousness with the Red Jacket's goofy slapstick. Opinions have improved over the years however, with many fondly viewing it as a period piece of 80's culture and despite the animation styles have been mixed in general, more recently some animation fans praising the animation used in the later episodes. Until recently, the series was only available in Japan and Italy receiving DVD releases and for Japan, Blu-ray. It was also aired in Spain, the Spanish dub can be found on the inernet. In the US, the entire series is currently available to stream via Crunchyroll. Episodes Trivia *According to Yuzo Aoki, three character designs were proposed for Lupin in this series. A hard Lupin, a soft Lupin and a comical Lupin. LUPIN III PART 3 CHARACTER DESIGNS WITH YUZO AOKI (OUT, FEBUARY 1984) Translated by Matt Schley. Retrieved June 10, 2019. *The airing in Japan was constantly delayed due to baseball. One example being Showtime Smells Of Death where it was finished in June however got aired in November. Yuzo Aoki interview (The Anime, January 1985). Retrieved June 10, 2019. *52 episodes were originally planned however only 50 got produced. Yuzo Aoki interview (The Anime, January 1985). Retrieved June 10, 2019. *When the series was dubbed into Italian, the series was censored with some episodes edited to the point of not making sense. This was due to that Mediaset had the rights to the series and while much of the content was not suitable for children such as nudity and heavy violence, some decisions affected the plotlines for no given reason. Unlike the previous series, no complete dub of the episodes exists and the DVDs are bilingual switching to Japanese during the cut scenes. Gallery B8o2up.jpg|Japanese Volume 1 DVD Cover. References Category:Series